NAIROBI, April 22 – Gor Mahia forward Michael Olunga has been ruled out of Saturday’s U-23 Africa Championships qualifier first-leg against Botswana due to school commitment.
21-year-old Olunga, a Technical University of Kenya student will be unavailable for the away clash since he is currently sitting for examinations and head coach Bobby Williamson called on other strikers available to step up and fill his void.
“Olunga will not be coming along with us because he is undertaking exams but I’m not worried that much because there are other players who will take up the position though we will miss his (Olunga) pace and energy up front,” Williamson who is yet to unveil his travelling party stated.
The blow has left Williamson with notables Gor’s Timothy Otieno, Sofapaka’s Enock Agwanda, Bandari’s Masoud Juma and KCB’s Crispinus Onyango to choose from up front as the Scotsman seeks to open their campaign with an away win.
However, the team is boosted by the availability of French-based youngster Louis Misiko who turns out for Ligue 1’s OGC NICE and Israel’s Antony Mbugua (Apoel Tel Aviv) who linked up with the team on Monday at Moi Sports Center Kasarani residential camp.
The pair will battle for the starting XI in the midfield alongside Kenyan Premier League players’ David King’atua, David Gateri, Victor Ndinya ( Bandari), Danson Kago (Sofapaka) and Tairus Omondi (KCB) as well as Robinson Kamura, Harrison Mwendwa (Mathare United) among others .
The team that was supposed to depart today has rescheduled their flight to Thursday the same day Williamson is expected to name his 20-man squad.
Kenya will be looking to redeem her pride after being bundled out of All Africa Games qualifiers by Egypt in March.
This year’s Africa Championships will also act as 2016 Olympics Games qualifiers with the top three teams at July Final in Senegal progressing to the Summer Games.
An aggregate win over Botswana will see Kenya book a date with Zambia in the second round set for the weekend of May 22.